The further to the South, the wilder and greener. I cycle between two lakes, wondering which one to choose to see as much as possible, and not the same as everyone else. In some way I succeed.

On the lake Trang An I end up in one boat with the Vietnamese family. They seem delighted, me – not so sure. The six of us share just a few meters of unstable piece of wood, on which we will spend next two hours. I don’t speak Vietnamese, they don’t understand English. We paddle bu turns. When it seems that we will travel in silence till the very end of the cruise, the questions begin: where from, where to, why. My innate politeness makes me answer all of them. Unfortunatelly, the body language is not good enough. No one understands anything. However, it doesn’t restrain my companions from questioning me further. So I paddle faster and faster, hoping that time will also speed up. Suddenly, more boats with Asian tourists emerge on the horizon. They begin to shout, wave, take pictures. They are everywhere. I have no chance to escape. I give up, take a deep breath and wave and smile back. And that’s for the next hour and a half.